Petition calls for statewide vote on higher education plan

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A man who helped create the state's higher education loan authority filed a petition Friday that could allow voters to decide whether to approve a plan to sell part of the authority's assets to support college scholarships and buildings.

The plan, approved by lawmakers and pushed by Gov. Matt Blunt, would use $350 million from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority over six years for college scholarships and campus construction projects.

Former MOHELA board member Allan Purdy filed a petition Friday that would leave the final decision of whether to approve the plan to the voters if he gets enough signatures by the Aug. 28 deadline. The issue would be on the ballot in November 2008.

The state constitution allows measures already approved by the legislature to be put on the ballot for approval. Petition gathers would need signatures from at least 5 percent of the voters in six of the state's nine congressional districts.

Purdy, 92, said during an interview from his home in Columbia that the proposed uses for the money are fine but he disagrees with the plan to use MOHELA funds. And although the petition might be filed in his name, he said, getting the plan onto the ballot will be up to others.

"At my age, if the younger people want it done, they're going to have to get the signatures," Purdy said.

Throughout the week, Blunt has traveled the state to ceremonially sign the higher education bill.

A spokesman for the governor said Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon and his supporters are continuing their attempts to derail Blunt's plan.

"It's unfortunate that Jay Nixon and his allies want to take away $350 million from Missouri's students," said Blunt spokesman Rich Chrismer.

Chrismer said there is wide support for the governor's plan and Blunt isn't worried that it will end up before the voters.

Nixon, who has opposed the plan for more than a year, has also announced that he plans to run for governor in 2008.

Nixon said Purdy is "an independent actor concerned about the heritage of MOHELA" and denied that he has worked to try to get the plan on the ballot.

"It is a misguided policy to take money from the one agency designed to make college affordable and spend that money on a one-time down payment for capital projects," Nixon said.

Purdy said he doesn't work for anyone, isn't affiliated with anyone and disagrees with using money from MOHELA for anything other than student loans.

"MOHELA was never started as a moneymaking entity," Purdy said. "It started as a service organization to help students who had to borrow money to get a higher education."

In 1981, Purdy assisted then-Gov. Kit Bond to create MOHELA to make it easier for college students to get loans. Purdy had been the director of student financial aide for the four-campus University of Missouri System.

Blunt first introduced a plan more than a year ago to use proceeds from the sale of some MOHELA assets to pay for buildings focused on life science research. After the Legislature did not approve the plan in 2006 and critics of embryonic stem-cell research raised objections, Blunt reshaped it to focus on agricultural projects.

Sen. Gary Nodler, who sponsored the legislation authorizing the plan and traveled with Blunt across the state, said Missourians overwhelmingly favor the idea.

"It actually causes MOHELA to achieve its purpose, which is to benefit Missouri students and Missouri higher education," said Nodler, R-Joplin.

Higher education officials also have embraced Blunt's proposal, and Missouri Western State University President Jim Scanlon called The Associated Press unsolicited Friday to praise the plan.

Scanlon, the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee to the state's higher education governing board, said university leaders appreciate that for the first time in several years, there is some state money for capital projects. His St. Joseph campus would get $30.1 million to expand its math and science building.

He said the petition to put the measure on the ballot is an unneeded additional review.

"Through their elected representatives, the people have already spoken," Scanlon said.

The plan's critics say using money from the quasi-governmental loan agency could endanger the availability of future student loans.

Rep. Clint Zweifel, among the most vocal critics of the plan throughout the process, said earlier this month that he planned to try to get the legislation authorizing the plan on the ballot. Earlier this week, Zweifel, D-Florissant, backed off that pledge.

Legislation approved by lawmakers made it to the ballot in 1982 when voters defeated a measure that would have allowed heavier and longer trucks on the highways.